The wait for a new King Diamond album has been going on for a long fucking time. It’s been roughly three years since Metal Blade Records CEO Brian Slagel told the world that the new album would come out before Mercyful Fate‘s would. Then Mercyful Fate guitarist Hank Shermann suggested that both albums would come out in 2023.
But here we are with 2024 clearly on every calendar and we still don’t have either new release. What gives?!
While we still don’t know when the full albums will come out, Slagel recently told The Metal Voice that he anticipated that one or two more new songs from the Danish icon could soon see the light of day. As in, sometime before the band hits the road this October.
“The hope is that we’ve got [new music] to release before the tour but that’s really up to them, getting it finished and recorded. So that’s the hope. But I will tell you, that obviously he’s known for especially in the last like 10-15 years for having these elaborate stage shows for both Mercyful Fate and King Diamond. And some of the things that he’s attempting to do on this tour just stage of production wise I don’t think anybody’s ever done before.”
“He kind of told me about what they’re doing and how they’re going to do it and all these concepts, and it looks like they’re going to pull it all together to be able to do all this stuff. And for him you know, I think it’s expected now that you need to see something over the top production wise because he set that bar.
“After they played that Sweden rock festival, kind of his first comeback after the heart attack and ever since then you know they are constantly raising the bar production wise and this one’s going to be some pretty insane stuff that’s going to go on production wise. So I can’t give you the details but I can tell you it’s going to be more than likely something you’ve probably never seen before.”
Slagel later said that the plan would be that the songs would be released and then “the record will come out hopefully fairly shortly after that…art takes time.”
As mentioned before, King Diamond’s slated to kick off the North American tour this October, marking the first time the band’s been in the a rea since 2019. You can find the full list of dates below.
10/15 Aztec Theatre San Antonio, TX
10/16 Bayou Music Center Houston, TX
10/18 Andrew J Brady Music Center Cincinnati, OH
10/19 The Factory St. Louis, MO
10/20 The Midland Theater Kansas City, MO
10/22 Murat Theatre At Old National Center Indianapolis, IN
10/23 The Louisville Palace Theatre Louisville, KY
10/25 The Eastern Atlanta, GA
10/26 Duke Energy Center for the Arts Mahaffey Theater St. Petersburg, FL
10/28 The Fillmore Silver Spring, MD
10/30 Kings Theater Brooklyn, NY
10/31 Roadrunner Boston, MA (no Overkill)
11/2 MTelus Montreal, QC
11/3 The Theatre At Great Canadian Mississauga, ON
11/4 The Masonic Temple Detroit, MI
11/6 The Agora Theatre & Ballroom Cleveland, OH
11/7 The Chicago Theatre Chicago, IL
11/8 The Riverside Theater Milwaukee, WI
11/10 The Fillmore Minneapolis, MN
11/11 Vibrant Music Hall Waukee, IA
11/14 Mission Ballroom Denver, CO
11/16 The Complex Salt Lake City, UT
11/18 Orpheum Vancouver, BC
11/20 Edmonton Convention Center Edmonton, AB
11/21 TCU Place Saskatoon, SK
11/22 Grey Eagle Resort And Casino Calgary, AB
11/24 Keller Auditorium Portland, OR
11/25 Moore Theater Seattle, WA
11/27 Fox Theater Oakland, CA
11/29 Youtube Theater Los Angeles, CA
11/30 The Theater At Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, NV
12/1 Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre San Diego, CA
12/2 The Van Buren Phoenix, AZ
12/4 REVEL Albuquerque, NM
12/6 The Factory In Deep Ellum Dallas, TX